Advice from experienced gardeners and gardeners on what temperature to store garlic in winter
Garlic is a perennial plant, but is usually grown as an annual.
This bulbous species is relatively easy to grow, provided it is exposed to sunlight and planted in conscientiously tilled and well-drained soil.
The dug out heads can be kept in good shape for a long time. To do this, it is important to meet a number of conditions, the main one of which is temperature.
Read on to find out at what temperature garlic should be stored.
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Storage conditions at home
Whether garlic is grown in your garden or purchased at the store, There are several aspects of its quality that you should pay attention to. Avoiding them will reduce shelf life and the likelihood of successful storage:
- Quality heads should be clean, white or bluish, depending on the variety, and well dried. Before storage, the outer covers and the central core are dried thoroughly.
- The head should be hard to the touch, the teeth should be even, without rotting dark spots. The outer segments of the bulbs are easily damaged during harvesting; during storage, these areas begin to turn yellow and rot.
Optimal temperature conditions
The ideal conditions for garlic are temperature from –1°C to +10°C and a dry place with a relative humidity of 50-60%.
This temperature allows you to keep garlic from drying out, losing nutrients and sprouting for up to 10 months.
The storage room must be sufficiently dry, ventilated, not too cold and not too hot. A dry basement, cool room, or well-insulated and ventilated garage will do.
Store bulbs in:
- shallow cardboard boxes,
- wooden boxes with lattice walls,
- on trays,
- in mesh bags,
- in stockings or in tourniquets in any way that ensures air circulation around each head.
You can store trimmed bulbs in a basket made of natural materials. From time to time, sort through the garlic and pull out any soft, shriveled or sprouted bulbs.
In the apartment
If it is not possible to find an unheated room, then the easiest place would be an apartment with room temperature and moderate humidity. The ideal environment would be at 15-18°C.
In an apartment, such conditions are usually created in dark areas away from heating radiators, where the vegetable can lie unchanged for 5-6 months.
It is best to store garlic whole. Once a clove or several are broken off, its service life will be reduced. Typically, a broken head is stored for about 10 days.
In a refrigerator
Humidity in the fresh vegetable drawer prevents the whole head from drying out. However, in the refrigerator the bulbous plant is very prone to sprouting.
In addition, moisture, condensation and above-zero temperatures will contribute to the appearance of mold on it.
Scientists also believe that garlic is low in acidity, which makes it susceptible to Clostridium botulinum, better known as the culprit of botulism.
Vegetables sold in oil in stores usually have a preservative added to them., such as citric acid, thereby preventing the formation of Clostridium botulinum. And you also need to take into account that the temperature in commercial refrigerators is lower than in home ones.
Read more about storing garlic in the refrigerator in this article.
In the freezer
You can also store garlic frozen. However, some people believe that frozen it is not as tasty as fresh. The most acceptable way is to peel the cloves, chop them, add a little water or broth and freeze everything in ice trays.
Is it possible to freeze garlic for storage in the freezer and how to do it correctly, read here.
Are temperature fluctuations acceptable?
Consistent temperature is also important, so do not keep the bulbs in a place such as an unheated barn, where the temperature can drop very low when it's cold and rise when it thaws. Fluctuations in heat and cold should not be allowed, this leads to loss of valuable and tasteful qualities of the product.
If the temperature drops too much, the cloves will begin to sprout once the temperature rises again.
Sprouted garlic acquires a bitter taste, and the cloves become elastic, making them difficult to peel and chop. This is why it is almost impossible to preserve store-bought garlic that has been stored in the refrigerator compartment.
At temperatures above 20°C, the vegetable dries too quickly, losing moisture. If there is poor air circulation, there is a high probability of teeth rotting.
Differences for different varieties
In our country, gardeners rarely distinguish garlic by variety, but there is still a clear understanding of two types - spring and winter.
- Spring – planted in spring, its heads are not very large and do not grow with arrows. There is no central core in the center of the bulb.
- Winter – planting time in late autumn, just before frost. The covers of the denticles are often bluish, but can also be white.
Recommended storage conditions for both types are almost the same, but still depend on the expected shelf life of each.
Spring has high keeping quality, its period of natural dormancy before the start of internal development of the sprout is much longer than that of winter. Therefore, it can be stored for a long time at temperatures above 10°C, while winter varieties require cooler conditions.
This will tell you how to store spring garlic at home until spring. this article on how to store winter garlic until spring - this.
Conclusion
Check the bulbs every few weeks and remove any diseased ones.. You'll know something is wrong if you smell garlic. This only happens after the bulbs have sprouted or become diseased.
When properly stored, some varieties remain strong for 10-12 months or longer. Spring varieties are the longest stored, often more than 12 months. While some winter crops have a shelf life of only 4 months.
